LOS ANGELES – When you recount the numbers, you realize the main reason Montee Ball did not win the Heisman Trophy.

They were afraid he wouldn't give it back.

Ball is the Wisconsin junior who leads major college football with 38 touchdowns and in rushing yards.

While at Wisconsin he has carried or caught the ball 536 times.

Not once has he lost a fumble.

That alone should earn him a trophy, if not a bobblehead.

"I did fumble in the Illinois game but we got it back," Ball said the other day, in the muted run-up to Wisconsin's Rose Bowl game with Oregon today.

"It happened the way it usually happens. I was trying to get extra yards and just lost track of the football. I take pride in it. We've got this blaster we run through, with the coaches swiping at the ball, and we've got this ball attached to this band and we run with it, and hold to it through the resistance. It's not something that just happens."

Statues never fumble. But Ball's grip on the situation is more remarkable because Wisconsin aims him into the high-traffic areas, behind an offensive line that goes 315, 320, 320, 320 and 330 and has a 6-foot-4, 330-pound tackle named Travis Frederick who went to Big Foot High School in Sharon, Wis. Seriously.

"I think all of them have bought into the idea of hanging onto the ball," said Paul Chryst, the offensive coordinator. "Coaches can talk about it, but the players have to realize how important it is."

When James White burped up a fumble against Illinois he broke a 1,009-touch streak by the Badgers backs.

But Ball, at 5-foot-11 and 205, ambushed the Heisman voters with his late-season yard-fest.

Wisconsin's Heisman candidate was supposed to be quarterback Russell Wilson, the transfer from North Carolina State.

Wilson did all he could with 31 touchdowns, three interceptions, five rushing scores and a 72.5 passing percentage.

Ball only had one 100-yard game in his first four, since he was splitting time with White. Then he scored 14 touchdowns with 906 yards in his final five games, including three in the Big Ten championship victory over Michigan State.

Ball finished one touchdown behind Barry Sanders' record and got to 1,759 yards in 13 games although he skipped the fourth quarter in six. He also produced 15 touchdowns and a 143.4 average against five ranked teams. Michigan State gave up 11 rushing TDs all season, four to Ball.

Ball is also the same guy who never left the bench in the 2010 game against Ohio State and was so peeved he briefly considered playing linebacker, as he did at times at his suburban St. Louis high school.

"But I never brought it up to the coaches," he said. "If I was at linebacker I probably wouldn't have been in New York (for the Heisman ceremony, where he finished fourth)."

Ball said his me-first attitude earned him his pine time. But his parents had moved to Madison and his dad, also Montee, conducted a come-to-Jesus meeting with his son that realigned his mind.

"It made sense at the time," Chryst said. "But then you say, 'What were we thinking?'

"It was a lot harder for Montee than he let on but he was always prepared. Things work for different reasons."

Ball's dad works in graphic design, so he could take his work on the road, and his mom is in customer relations. She got a job at Madison's electric company.

"They're 15 minutes away," Ball said. "If I want her to pick up the laundry she can do that, or I can come home for a home-cooked meal."

Ball's end zone radar is as impressive as his Velcro hands. Every football coach in a 3,000-mile radius obsesses over "red zone" efficiency. How to gain those last, longest yards?

Well, the Badgers made 70 red-zone invasions. They kicked six field goals, missed another, threw one interception and were stymied by the halftime buzze another timer.

The other 63 times, they scored touchdowns.

"That's the time I get the most locked in," Ball said. "You can't settle for three points these days. Whenever we huddle up, we say, let's finish this out."

The Badgers, 11-2, seem happy to be here, because they remember the TCU loss last season and the solemn trip home that followed.

But if games were only 59 minutes long, the Badgers would be in New Orleans for the Biggest Game.

They lost twice, by 10 points and, really, 20 seconds. Michigan State beat them on the final play, and Ohio State did so with 20 seconds left.

To avoid such fate today, Wisconsin needs to put the Rose Bowl in the hands of its 10 least fickle fingers.

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